This blog post is a continuation of a poll I did on my mailing list. Originally, it was all about my Blood Trails series, and me trying to gat a handle on what reader expectations were for whether the coming sex is "on page" or "off page/fade to black."
Sex scenes are a common discussion topic in the urban fantasy genre. There are some authors who will say if you include sex, then it's paranormal romance, not urban fantasy. Which is problematic for me, because if I tried to call Blood Trails paranormal romance, when the romantic interest is only in half the books, and they don't even kiss until after the first half of the series... Well, romance readers wouldn't be happy.
Right now, the way I look at it, if an author writes strong sexual tension, and I'm really feeling the pressure, then I want that sex scene on page (Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane is a good example). If the sexual tension is more muted, and based more on a "boy, she's attractive" sort of thing (a la Dresden Files), then I'm fine with no on page sex.
However, I do want to educate myself about reader expectations. When it comes right down to it, an author can write sex scenes (or not) however they want, the important thing is making sure the reader knows what they are (or aren't) getting into.
So how do we do that?
I can't put a sexy guy on the cover, or make the heroine sexy on the cover, because that's definitely misleading. My attempt to be forthcoming was to have a super-sexual character in the first books, a gentle warning that if you don't like heavy sexual tension/sex then this might not be the series for you. Was that enough?
Anyway, that was my survey. Blood Trails specific.
But what I'd like to know now is, what signals to you, the reader, that an urban fantasy will have explicit sex? What reassures you it won't?
How much do you care? Do you shrug and say "whatever, I'll skip the sex if I don't want it, as long as there isn't so much that it slows the plot, who cares?" or do you sigh and delete books that have sex in them as "selling out to the sex gods?"
If an author includes well-written sexual tension and then fades to black, do you quit the series because you feel a promise was made and broken? Or do you sigh and move on, determined to enjoy the sexual tension even if you don't get to read the culmination of said tension?
Comment and let's talk...
IF YOU'VE READ THE BLOOD TRAILS SERIES: Please try to avoid spoilers in any comments. If you mention something spoilery, remember to say "spoiler" first, and if possible, mention what book someone has to have read to in order to read your comment spoiler-free.
